Romania Gets a Ship to Search for Mines in the Black Sea

By the end of the year, Romania will receive a maritime minesweeper from Great Britain, with which it will join the joint initiative with Bulgaria and Turkey to search for mines in the Black Sea.

This was announced in an interview with "Digi 24" TV by the Minister of Defense Angel Tilvar, who is visiting the USA together with Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.

The minister noted that Romania is affected by the situation in Ukraine, and recalled that mines were discovered in the Black Sea and the remains of drones landed on Romanian territory after Russian attacks on port infrastructure in Ukraine.

"Romania has been trying for a long time to present the Black Sea region as a region of interest for the alliance, for the eastern flank and for the EU (At the NATO summit) in Vilnius it was made clear that the Black Sea is of particular importance, refers to Russia's behavior and the fact that Russia attacked another country completely unjustifiably, violating international law," the minister said.

Romania has bought a total of two minesweepers from Britain to fill a shortage of equipment for the Black Sea.

Tilvar also says that only Romania will have similar ships from the countries that announced an initiative for demining in the Black Sea - Bulgaria and Turkey.

When asked about the possibility of Bucharest acquiring submarines, the minister indicated that the issue is being discussed, but a specific deadline cannot be given, as the talks are informal at this stage.